פיר מעמבערס פון נטורי קרתא צווישען זיי ראביי אהרן כהן פון מאנטשעסטער, און ראביי ישראל דוד ווייס פון מאנסי האבען זיך באטייליגט אין א קאנפרענץ געפירט דורך א איראנער געוועזענער אינערן מיניסטער , מיטן באטייליגונג פון חיזבאלא אין חאמאס דעלעגאטען.
Rabbis at pro-Palestinian conference
Associated Press, THE JERUSALEM POST Feb. 24, 2005
The Jewish rabbi took the stage Wednesday surrounded by some of Israel's fiercest Arab foes.
But rather than being shouted down, Orthodox Rabbi Ahron Cohen's message was greeted by officials from Hamas and Lebanon's Hizbullah - both of whom are on a U.S. terrorism list.
Cohen, from Manchester, England, and three U.S. rabbis are members of the tiny Natorei Karta group, which opposes Israel's right to exist and Zionism.
"It's better to come here peacefully as a Jewish person and to show that we can live in peace together with our Arab neighbors and to demonstrate the basic wrong of the Zionist idea and I feel humbled and privileged by the opportunity of being able to come here," said Cohen at a conference entitled The Palestinian People's Right of Return to their Homeland.
The message of the rabbi was not new, but the scene was unfamiliar - rabbis and Israel's sworn enemies discussing the Palestinian issue in Lebanon, an Arab country still at war with the Jewish state.
Dozens of activists from around the world are attending the three-day conference, which has been organized by the International Union of Parliamentarians for the Defense of the Palestinian Cause. The union is headed by Ali Akbar Mohtashemi, a former interior minister from Iran, a fierce Israeli foe and sponsor of Hizbullah.
Lebanon once had a thriving Jewish community, but most of its members fled during this country's 1975-90 civil war and only a few are believed to have stayed.
The doctrine of Cohen's group says Jews cannot use human force to establish a Jewish state before the coming of the universally accepted Messiah.
Cohen added his group supports close ties with Arabs, particularly Palestinians, and rejects Zionism, the movement to establish the state of Israel.
"Zionists can in no way represent Jewry," said Cohen, who wore a badge pinned to his chest showing a Palestinian flag written on it "A Jew Not a Zionist" in Arabic, English and Hebrew.
Neturei Karta's leader, Rabbi Moshe Hirsh, considers himself a Palestinian Jew. The group has frequently participated in pro-Palestinian activities, including a visit to the grave of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in Ramallah, in November.
Hamas' Lebanon representative, Osama Hamdan, said his group respects Jews.
"Our real problem is with (Israeli) occupation and if this occupation tries to say it belongs to a certain religion than that is its own problem," Hamdan said.
Abdullah Kassir, a Hizbullah member of the Lebanese Parliament, said Jews are people "who we respect and coexist with like other societies. We are against Zionism that represents a racist ideology that usurped the land of Palestine."
But despite the apparent warmth the rabbis were shown, bodyguards who were apparently Hizbullah members were at their sides and conference organizers warned them not to walk around in Beirut on their own since people here are not used to their sight.
The rabbis said they didn't know if they will meet Hizbullah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, who regularly condemns and threatens Israel.
"We hope to meet whoever is willing to meet with us," said one of the American rabbis, Dovid Weiss, of Monsey, New York.
"Jews, Arabs, Jews and Muslims can live together, (and) have been living together. We will live together in peace."
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